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Alexander  Brook 


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CALIFORNIA 


yOUNGER  ARTISTS  SERIES 

NUMBER   2 

ALEXANDER   BROOK 


Those  interested  in  the  raison  d'etre  of  this 
monograph  will  find  in  the  first  number  of  the 
series  to  whidi  it  belongs  a»GeneraI  Intro* 
duction«  by  Mr.  Harold  Ward.  With  as 
mudi  brevity  as  is  consistent  with  definite- 
ness,  this  Introduction  seeks  to  formulate 
the  intellectual  position  of  the  editor,  and 
to  outline  the  critical  background  against 
whidi  he  has  placed  the  various  figures 
dealt  with  in  »The  Younger  Artists  Series* . 


PRINTED   BY 
ERNST  WASMUTH  A.-G.,   BERLIN 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/alexanderbrookOOmurriala 


YOUNGER  ARTISTS  SERIES 

NUMBER  2 


ALEXANDER  BROOK 

BY 

WILLIAM  MURRELL 


WITH    FRONTISPIECE    IN   COLOR   AND 
24  REPRODUCTIONS  IN  BLACK  AND  WHITE 


WOODSTOCK  N.  Y.  1922 
PUBLISHED  BY  WILLIAM  M.  TISHER 


yOUNGER  ARTISTS  SERIES 

Already  Published 
Nr.  1  Ernest  Fiene 
Nr.  2  Alexander  Brook 
Nr,  3  Peggy  Bacon 
Nr.  4  yasuo  Kuniyoshi 

In  Preparation 
Nr.  5^Henry  Lee  Mac  Fee 
Nr.  6  Ben  Benn 
Nr.  7  Edward  Fisk 
Nr.  8  Henry  Mattson 


ALEXANDER  BROOK 

The  paintings  of  Alexander  Brook  offer  a  nice 
problem  for  analysis :  why  does  this  gay^spirited 
young  man  paint  such  lugubrious  personages?  Is 
he  simply  ;:he  rarely  met  opposite  of  the  better 
kown  melandioly-humorist?  or  is  there  something 
well  worth  study  and  appreciation  in  his  per= 
sonality  and  work? 

His  history  is  brief.  He  was  born  twenty ^three 
years  ago  in  New  York  of  Russian  parents,  and 
has  been  painting  and  drawing  since  he  was  twelve. 
But  it  would  be  beside  the  point  to  ignore  him 
on  account  of  his  youth :  he  has  functioned  in  a 
definite  and  authentic  manner,  and  that  is  an  a\U 
sufficient  ground  for  consideration. 

His  is  a  high-strung,  vehement,  and  riotous 
nature,-  impatient  of  delay  and  plodding  methods. 
His  lithe,  nervous  body  and  close-set,  curious 
eyes  are  never  in  idle  repose.  In  fact  his  whole 
being,  mental  and  physical,  seems  ever  straining 
at  and  plunging  forth  from  an  invisible  leash  — 


a  line  that  becomes  more  elastic  and  attenuated 
as  his  self-knowledge  and  power  increase. 

Of  concentration  and  coherence  as  such,  there 
is  no  sign  in  the  effervescing  energy  of  his  tem- 
perament,- but  his  mind  and  his  eyes  alike  are  ever 
flitting  far  and  near  with  bee-like  force  and  per^ 
sistancy,  seeking,  seizing,  and  storing  precious 
notes  of  appearances  and  forms  that  interest  him. 
And  his  manner  of  painting  is  consistent  with  this 
restless  activity.  He  uses  no  models,  but  makes 
numerous  pencil  drawings  of  things  conceived 
or  seen.  Then,  something  pleasing  him  in  any  of 
these  —  a  woman's  hat,  or  a  chimney  pot,  —  a 
start  is  made  on  canvas,  and  from  that  first  shape 
he  developes  the  whole  painting,  the  color  co- 
incidental with  the  form. 

Curiously  enough  there  is  always  something 
droll  or  whimsical  inextricably  bound  up  with  the 
genuine  beauty  of  his  color.  To  regard  him  as  a 
painter  of  humorous  subjects  is  to  miss  the  artist 
in  him  entirely.  It  is  not  the  line  in  his  work  that 
is  droll,  for  there  is  none.  It  is  the  fusion  of  subtle 
tones  and  bold  juxtapositions  of  color  with  other* 
wise  incongruous  shapes,  forms,  and  features,  — 
and  all  done  in  a  manner  reserved,  restrained, 
and  grave. 


His  paintings,  when  exhibited  last  January 
at  the  Brummer  Gallery  in  New  York,  were 
characterized  as  sullen,  gloomy,  and  depressing. 
Not  one  of  his  critics  even  unintentionally  used 
the  word  lugubrious,  with  its  hint  of  the  whims^ 
ical  or  the  droll. 

Brook,  despite  this,  still  likes  to  think  of  his 

■  work  as  American.  Yet  the  complete  absense  of 

response  to  both  its  humor  and  its  quality  points 

to  the  conclusion  that  his  outlook  <or  shall  I  say 

inlook?)  is  clearly  unamerican. 

Perhaps  one  might  find  herein  some  trace  of 
the  Russian  blood  in  this  American  youth  having 
its  expression.  It  is  as  significant  as  it  is  certain 
that  the  characters  he  creates  are  less  American 
than  European,  and  that  they  would  be  better 
appreciated  across  the  Atlantic  than  here  in  the 
land  of  their  plastic  origin. 

However,  I  would  not  be  thought  in  the  above 
to  maintain  that  Brook's  work  is  »old  hat«  in  any 
sense  of  that  term.  Far  from  it  —  this  youngster  is, 
despite  his  leanings  toward  Daumier  and  Picasso, 
is  in  the  vanguard  with  the  Expressionists.  And 
yet  if  I  told  him  so  he  would  probably  ask:  And 
who  the  devil  are  they? 


ALEXANDER  BROOK 
REPRODUCTIONS 


Frontispiece  in  Color  —  Petit  Dejeuner 
(Owned  by  Mrs,  C,  R.  Bacon) 


Paintings: 

1.  The  Poet 

2.  The  Flowered  Hat 

3.  M.  Bourdelle 

4.  Head 

5.  Miss  Strenley 

6.  Self  Portrait 

7.  Landscape 

8.  Irene  Piatt 

9.  Torso 

10.  M,  and  Mme.  Bourdelle 

11.  Laborer's  Hut 

12.  Albert 

13.  Figure  Study 

14.  Landscape 

15.  Portrait 

16.  Mother  and  Child 

17.  Figure  Study 

18.  Nocturne 


Di 

•awings 

>  • 

19. 

Peon 

20. 

Child 

21. 

Head 

22. 

Pretty  Baby 

23- 

Windy  Day 

24- 

Head 

THE  rOET 


Oil  1922 


\ 


i 


THE  FLOWERED  HAT 


Oil  1919 


M.  BOURDELLE 


Oil  1921 


HEAD 


Oil  192L 


MISS  STRENLEY 


Oil  VJ-20 


SELF  POETEAIT 


Oil  1919 


LANDSCAPE 


Oil  1910 


IRENE  PLATT 


Oil  1920 


TORSO 


Oil  1918 


M.  AND?MME,  BOURDELJ.K 


Oil  192  L 


LABORER'S  HUT 


Oil  1921 


ALBERT 


Oil  1920 


FIGURE  STUDY 


Oil  1919 


PORTRAIT 


Oil  1922 


MOTHER  AND  CHILD 


Oil  1919 


PEON 


CHILD 


Pencil  Drawing 


HEAD 


Pencil  Drawing 


PRETTY  BABY 


Ink  Drawing 


WINDAY  DAY 


Ink  Drawing 


HEAD 


Crayon  Drawing: 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  738  101     5 


